I lost count of the number of times I had to turn away from the screen in this harrowing portrayal of life in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Some truly shocking scenes and arbitrary killings are shown in full and graphic detail.

It is perhaps fitting that, given current events, this film serves as such a solemn reminder for what it must be like for innocent civilians caught up in a war-zone.

The film focuses on Wladislaw Szpilman (Brody), a brilliant concert pianist playing on Warsaw radio who is literally bombed out of a recording studio and forced to endure the full horror of Nazi troops humiliating his family and all other Jews.

He has to reign in his reactionary brother, who he rescues from Jewish ghetto police collaborating with the Nazis, and use his contacts to secure a work permit for his ever-optimistic father (Finlay) who counterbalances the fretful, worrying mother (Lipman).

There is even a cameo role for Paul Bradley — better known as the bumbling Nigel of EastEnders fame. But there’s no big hair or silly ties in this — it’s far too serious.

It is the detail provided by certain scenes that best communicates the awfulness of the situation.

For instance, the wailing mother that cannot believe she smothered her own baby to death to stop it crying and being discovered by German soldiers who raided her home.

Szpilman has to cope with the guilt of being singled out seconds before boarding the train to Auschwitz with the rest of his family, and being hidden in various apartments thanks to contacts built up through his piano-playing talent.

Any feelings of guilt give way to pure survival when the deserted remains of a hospital and other buildings provide a hiding place and a possible source of food.

The cinematography is awesome — the sight of Szpilman limping down a street, resembling a tramp, with the grey bombed-out remains of buildings on either side is almost surreal.

The triumph of the film is to show how a talent for something (in this case music) can cross all boundaries in all situations.

Szpilman’s rendition of Chopin’s Ballade Number One saves him after he’s discovered by a German officer (Thomas Kretschmann) — he even gets food and clothing thrown in.

A brilliant piece of work but not one for those seeking an evening’s light entertainment.